1990 World Cup kit-tracker – Group A

As part of the build-up to our game-by-game kit-tracker for the upcoming World Cup, we’re looking back at past tournaments. See here for 1970 content and below is the first part of the 1990 retrospective.

Italy 1 Austria 0

Italy were in the classic style they had used throughout the 1980s, with a flag trim on the collar and cuffs the only adornment, while it would be another decade before a manufacturer’s logo would be allowed on the azzurri kit. Goalkeeper Walter Zenga was in the traditional silver/grey.

Austria certainly pushed the envelope with an interesting ‘twisted’ pattern, while goalkeeper Klaus Lindenberger’s shorts were just twisted. Sub Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci came on to score a late winner for Italy.

Czechoslovakia 5 USA 1

Of the 24 teams at Italia 90, adidas supplied the kits for 15 and while some templates were used more than once, there was still quite a lot of variation.

After the fall of communism, Czechoslovakia went with the country’s flag instead of a crest, while the USA’s kit was without any red bar some trim on the badge.

Both goalkeepers, Jan Stejskal and Tony Meola, wore the same style of shirt, which featured a two-tone ‘scribble’ effect.

Italy 1 USA 0

It probably seems counter-intuitive that the US would change from blue shorts to white, the same colour as Italy’s, to lessen the overall clash, but FIFA preferred that rather than blue-white-blue against white-blue-white.

In more recent World Cups, Italy would have changed shorts too to make two solid blocks.

Austria 0 Czechoslovakia 1

While Austria’s black socks hadn’t been considered to clash with Italy’s blue, here the Czechs wore their away set as they secured a place in the knockout section with a second win.

Italy 2 Czechoslovakia 0

The hosts made it three wins from three – they would wear their home kit in every game – against a Czech side wearing a third different combination, with the change shirt a simple reversal of the home.

USA 1 Austria 2

Victory wasn’t enough for Austria to advance. As so often, their change kit saw white swapped for red and black swapped for white – nowadays, this is their primary colour pattern with white/black the second choice.